World October 2012: Ford Focus and Hyundai Elantra on top!

The Hyundai Elantra passes the Toyota Corolla worldwide potentially for the first time ever…

* See the Top 150 best-selling models by clicking on the title! Many thanks to Austin *

With official October figures now all in, I am able to share with you the Top 150 most popular cars around the planet in October. Please note these are October figures, not November yet which will be published in the New Year once all data is in. I know the World November Roundup was published a few days ago so apologies for going back one month but this ranking takes much longer to compile… Remember this is based on sales in the 60+ countries that are updated monthly on BSCB, except for Ford and Renault/Dacia which are official worldwide figures. So most sales figures for each model are a minimum. 

The Ford Focus is #1 in the world for the 2nd time running…

While last month the Ford Focus had started to benefit from the Japanese drama in China to pass the Toyota Corolla and historically grab the worldwide pole position, in October things are getting worse (before they get better in November) for Toyota: handicapped by dramatically low sales in China, the Corolla now drops to #3, passed by the Hyundai Elantra! The Focus stays on top with 88,096 sales, ahead of the Elantra at 74,386 units – its strongest worldwide month so far in 2012 and benefitting from a very successful launch of the last gen in China – and the Corolla at 73,833 sales… Two more models pass the 70,000-units mark this month: the Jetta and Passat, again on the back of mammoth Chinese sales.

VW Passat

The Ford F-Series (+1), VW Golf (-3) and Chevrolet Cruze (-2) follow, while the VW Polo is back in the Top 10 at #9 (+2) and the Ford Fiesta is stable at #10. The Toyota Hilux stays extremely robust in 12th position with just under 50,000 sales, the VW Gol/Voyage surfs on a very dynamic Brazilian market, up 12 spots on September to #15, as does the Fiat Palio/Siena up 19 to #26. The Chevrolet Silverado continues to progress at #17 and should finish the year upwards given the strong incentives GM will offer to get rid of stock of the current model before the 2014 generation launches early next year.

Kia K3

The Hyundai Tucson/ix35 is up again at #19 vs. #32 year-to-date, the Wuling Rongguang smashes its monthly record at 34,220 units and #27 (+17), the Kia Cerato/K3 starts to enjoy the effects of the K3 launch in South Korea and China at #28 (+21), the BMW 3 Series is up a further 4 ranks to #31 vs. #47 year-to-date, the VW Lavida is up 20 to #37 vs. #71 YTD and the Renault Duster, helped by fantastic performances in Russia and India, is up 22 spots to a best-ever #33.

Toyota Aqua

Further down, the Toyota Prius c/Aqua breaks into the worldwide Top 50 for the first time at #43 and 27,720 sales, helped by a historical win in Japan. It now also outsells the Prius for the first time (#53). The Peugeot 208 is getting closer the Top 50 at #54, while the Hyundai Santa Fe stays solid at #68 vs. #90 year-to-date and the Hyundai i20 takes off at #76 (+23) vs. #110 YTD.

Fiat Viaggio

The BYD F3 is the best-selling Chinese Passenger Car in the world for the 2nd month running at #82 with 16,957 sales, just above the Emgrand EC7 at #83 and 16,753 units, the Suzuki Ertiga continues to climb at #125, the VW Up! breaks into the worldwide Top 150 for the first time at #128 thanks to a very strong showing at home in Germany and the Dodge Dart/Fiat Viaggio appears at #178 with 8,347 sales.

Previous month: World September 2012: Ford Focus #1 ahead of Toyota Corolla!

Previous year-to-date update: World 9 months 2012: Discover the Top 180 best-selling models!

Full October 2012 Top 150 Ranking Table below.